A framework for improving the roadmapping performance

Roadmapping has evolved over the last years and it is currently an established managerial approach. It has demonstrated potential to support the development of strategies and plans concerning product and technology innovations for businesses and industrial sectors. Plenty of knowledge with regard to the best practices for implementing the roadmapping approach has been reported, however they are mainly focused on the roadmapping implementation. In fact, there is little information available focusing at enhancing the roadmapping performance to an upper level in organizations that have already mastered its implementation. To this end, this paper proposes a framework to improve the roadmapping performance based on its most core result, the roadmap. The framework uses three indicators of roadmapping performance: information gathering, layers integration and forecasting. These indicators work as references for examining roadmaps created in the organization, clarifying eventual limitations in the implemented process. Aiming at enriching the roadmapping performance, the framework recommends different methods and tools to tackle the aforementioned indicators. Examples of published roadmaps are used to analyse the potential of the proposed framework as a roadmapping improvement tool.